Can Stress Cause a Stroke? Decoding the Symptoms

Stress is a real thing and can lead to life-threatening events if you don’t properly manage it. Stress is basically your body reacting to a threat, whether real or perceived and a sign that you should slow down. More so, stress alerts you to the likelihood of some harm happening to you, thus helping you to avert it. That is why one should listen to one’s body and take a break when the body demands it.

We mentioned that stress can lead to life-threatening events earlier; one of those events is a stroke. Stress, though helpful in moderation, when it becomes severe can make you more prone to a stroke or heart disease. This article aims to help you understand how stress can lead to a stroke, what types of strokes it can cause, and more.

Key Takeaways

• Stress is your body’s natural response to a perceived threat and certain demands and events and may affect your health and well-being.
• When stressed, your body goes into a fight or flight mode, releasing two major stress hormones, cortisol and adrenaline.
• Although stress does not directly cause a stroke, it can increase your chances of developing a stroke if you have underlying health conditions such as hypertension.
• Reducing your stress levels through meditation, exercise, rest, and a healthy diet can help to reduce your likelihood of developing a stroke and improve overall health.

Table of Content

Decoding the Symptoms: What Happens When You’re Stressed?

Understanding Stroke: What type of stroke is caused by stress?

Connecting the Dot: Does Stress Cause Strokes?

Some Stress-Induced Stroke Symptoms

Taking a Cue from Stress Signs: How to Prevent a Stroke

Conclusion

Decoding the Symptoms: What Happens When You Are Stressed?

When your body is stressed, your brain triggers the body to release some chemicals. These chemicals are not harmful; instead, they trigger a number of things to prepare your body for the threat or put it in a “flight or fight mode.” Meanwhile, the brain will trigger these chemicals regardless of the type of stress you are experiencing – whether anxiety, grief, or fatigue.

Two chemicals released include cortisol and adrenaline (1) (you might have heard of this one). Cortisol is a hormone that forces your body to retain sodium and water to keep your blood pressure from tanking. In addition, it helps to break down sugar stores in the liver while making it available for use, and it prepares you to handle strenuous situations. Conversely, adrenaline is a hormone that causes the heart rate to increase, leading to increased blood pressure and blood pumping to vital organs.

Understanding Stroke: What Type of Stroke Is Caused by Stress?

Stroke can be of two main types (2): Ischemic where an artery in your brain is blocked and hemorrhagic stroke where an artery in your brain bleeds. The blocking of the arteries, which eventually leads to ischemic stroke, is a result of cholesterol or bad fat buildup (plaque). Meanwhile, hemorrhagic stroke happens when the wall of the brain vessel is weakened, a condition known as aneurysm.

Also, the weakening can be a result of very high blood pressure, causing your vessel to break. When that happens, blood starts seeping out into surrounding tissue rather than going to the brain. Hence, your brain is deprived of the oxygen and nutrients it needs since the blood bringing them never makes it.

An additional type of stroke is the Transient ischemic stroke which occurs when a clot temporarily blocks a vessel in your brain causing short-term stroke symptoms that resolve within 24 hours. A TIA differs from the two main types of stroke mentioned above because it is temporary; your symptoms may even resolve before the doctor arrives. However, while they are temporary, the symptoms of a ministroke are an early sign of a bigger stroke. In fact, the CDC (3) asserts that 10-15% of people who experience a TIA have a more serious stroke within three months.

Now, while psychosocial and emotional stress have been implicated in the development of stroke, no direct link has been made between stroke and any of the two types of stroke. However, a recent study showed that persistently high levels of stress might result in mini-strokes or “incident stroke.”

Connecting the Dots: Does Stress Cause Strokes?

Although not fully established, some studies (4) suggest that stress, particularly emotional stress, is a risk factor for stroke. Stress is more likely to cause stroke in an individual who is at high risk of having a stroke in the first place.

If you are constantly in a chronic state of stress, there is an increased risk of stroke. Here’s how it works: when you are under persistent stress, the levels of cortisol and other stress hormones in your body increase. As a result, your body starts retaining salt and water, which essentially leads to increased blood pressure.

If this persists, your blood vessels will become stressed and blood sugar will go up, meaning vessels cannot control blood flow efficiently and the heart can’t pump effectively because it needs to work harder. Moreover, when you’re stressed, cortisol production increases, which disrupts sleep cycles, and leads to more stress and then more cortisol production.

While chronic stress may not directly cause a stroke, this process increases your risk of developing heart disease, high blood pressure, obesity, and diabetes, thereby increasing your risk of developing a stress stroke.

Some Stress-Induced Stroke Symptoms

Knowing the signs that a stroke is underway can help you to take action quickly and reduce disabilities. Many people confuse the early symptoms of a TIA or ministroke with an anxiety attack and, therefore, miss them. However, if you are experiencing any of the following, you might be going through a stress-induced stroke:

• Sudden weakness or numbness on one side of your body, including your face, arm, or leg
• Sudden confusion
• Sudden difficulty in speaking or understanding speech, or slurred speech
• Sudden trouble with seeing with one or both eyes
• Sudden lack of coordination, dizziness, loss of balance, or difficulty walking
• Severe headache with no particular cause
• Facial drooping

Taking a Cue from Stress Signs: How to Prevent a Stroke

Stress is something many of us cannot escape, especially at work or even at home (as a parent). However, you can reduce the pressure stress puts on your mind and body and reduce the chances of relapsing into stress-induced unhealthy behaviors. By preventing a relapse into those unhealthy behaviors, you can reduce your risk of having a stroke.

Below are valuable tips to help you reduce stress and ultimately reduce your chances of developing a stroke:

• Breathing: When you feel stressed, take deep and slow breaths to slow your heart rate and lower your blood pressure. Also, meditation has been known to help with de-stressing; it supplies oxygen to your brain and improves your physical capabilities.
• Soothing Music and Calming Apps: Listening to calming music can help to soothe your mind and encourage your body to relax. In addition, there are now calming apps on smartphones with which you can practice stress-relieving calming techniques.
• Exercise and Rest: Take a few minutes every day to exercise, even if it means simply walking around the house. Also, get enough sleep as insufficient sleep has been linked to increased stress hormone secretion and inflammation.
• Eat Healthy: Stress and healthy eating don’t always go together, but you have to make conscious decisions to eat nutritious meals even when stressed. Also, avoid managing stress with alcohol or smoking; instead, replace these with healthy coping mechanisms such as walking or listening to music.

Conclusion
The straightforward answer to the question ‘does stress cause strokes?’ is no, but there is evidence that both are linked. More so, when you understand what happens in the body when it is stressed and experiencing stroke, you’ll understand better how stress is linked to stroke and how severe stress can lead to stroke.

For more on this subject read what does a stroke feel like?

Written by Dr. Ori Otokpa, MBBS

Medically Reviewed by Dr. Danielle Kelvas, MD

References

1. Ranabir, S., & Reetu, K. (2011). Stress and hormones. Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism, 15(1), 18–22. https://doi.org/10.4103/2230-8210.77573
2. Chung, C.-P. . (2017, January 1). Chapter 77 – Types of Stroke and Their Differential Diagnosis (L. R. Caplan, J. Biller, M. C. Leary, E. H. Lo, A. J. Thomas, M. Yenari, & J. H. Zhang, Eds.). ScienceDirect; Academic Press. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780128030585000771
3. CDC. “About Stroke.” Stroke, 25 Apr. 2024, www.cdc.gov/stroke/about/?CDC_AAref_Val=www.cdc.gov/stroke/about.htm.
4. Kotlęga, D., Gołąb-Janowska, M., Masztalewicz, M., Ciećwież, S., & Nowacki, P. (2016). The emotional stress and risk of ischemic stroke. Neurologia i neurochirurgia polska, 50(4), 265–270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pjnns.2016.03.006